Miniature Minotaurs with Kurt Gottschalk:
Playlist
from December 14, 2012

"I fancy him at the court of Minos, anxious to know what sort of unmentionable monster the Minotaur may be, whether he is as frightful as all that or perhaps charming?" - Albert Camus
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Fri. 12/14/12 3:23pm
Ike:
Don't check the news. Nothing good can come of it right now. Just stay here. Srsly.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:26pm
tim from champaign:
I agree, Ike. I've been checking the news and nothing good is coming of it. Ugh.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:30pm
common:
i tried to read it, but only got about 100 pages in...

Fri. 12/14/12 3:31pm
G:
People should just stop tuning in to coverage about shootings. The attention and publicity just encourage the nest person to do it. I deliberately stopped listening to any newstalk soon after 10AM.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:33pm
tim from champaign:
What's the name of the book again, Kurt?

Fri. 12/14/12 3:33pm
Jack:
I read Ada years ago. As I recall the first 100 pages were a real slog, but then it picked up and I enjoyed it. It takes place in an alternate universe.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:35pm
Honey Water:
@G: If it encouraged legislation on gun control, all the attention would be worthwhile. As it stands, yes, it only encourages the next unhinged human with easy access to assault weapons.

This Shankar set will soothe the soul...TY DJKG.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:36pm
G:
There's a hell of a lot more to Nabokov than Lolita, that's for sure. Literary tidbit for the day.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:39pm
tim from champaign:
I read Ada a few months ago. Not my favorite Nabakov but I enjoyed it. It was written with a lot of humor. Stick with it, Kurt.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:40pm
G:
The attention causes the problem.

Anyone who wants attention badly enough to kill people will find a way around a law.

Trusting to the passage of legislation is very innocent. I've been hearing that since 1968, and I think the data are vast and definitive that those laws don't have one bit of effect on things like this. The laws just make these events feel even more transgressive to someone who is looking to be maximally transgressive in the first place.

My advice: Stop thinking about it from your point of view, and think about it from the point of view of the type of person who does this, if you really want to accomplish something, rather than just "say the right-sounding thing."

Fri. 12/14/12 3:42pm
Ike:
I don't think every person who does something like this just wants attention. Isn't that pop psychology? Violent mental illness is generally much more complex than that.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:43pm
Honey Water:
G. sounds to me like you are the one with a rigid POV. I see no reason to "pick a fight" as I was not doing so.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:49pm
steve:
i keep hearing there may be a copy of the Concert for Bangladesh album hidden in a closet at my Grandmas... i may have to press some family members on that this weekend

Fri. 12/14/12 3:50pm
G:
Ravi's always great. I read a bio of him a few years ago, starting with his tours back in the 30s...

Fri. 12/14/12 3:51pm
Honey Water:
I can't speak for everyone else "since 1968," but I personally don't understand how anyone can be so certain gun control *won't work* until it is at least seriously tried. We've had it the other way all along, and look where that's gotten us. Blaming the media for everything is *now* the "right-sounding" thing to say.

Fri. 12/14/12 3:52pm
Honey Water:
But right now, I just want to drift on a wave of Ravi. So be it.

Fri. 12/14/12 4:00pm
G:
Read up some on how many gun laws have been passed since 1968 (when the concept first went mainstream after the two big assassinations that year). Read up on gun crime stats in jurisdictions with the most stringent gun controls.

All my relatives repeat the gun control mantra, like so many evangelicals toeing the doctrinal line. Monoculture.

I look at what actually happens and draw my own inferences.
Publicity saturation of mass murders makes them attractive to that one in 50 million people who's drawn to the idea of creating an event like that.

The publicity is what drives this repetitive cycle. I don't want to hear about it. Let the police deal with it, and stop watching or doing the wall to wall "coverage" of pseudo-journalists uttering deep thoughts.

Fri. 12/14/12 4:07pm
Honey Water:
Oh, yes, thank goodness we have remote controls even if seriously deficient gun controls. This ends for me with we aGree to disaGree.

Fri. 12/14/12 4:14pm
Otis:
I signed this today while not watching the news: http://1.usa.gov/Xnrs6z

Fri. 12/14/12 5:02pm
northguineahills:
Been here all day. Being the moron I am, I just noticed that every resume edit I sent out for the last year had a typo in the email address. Now that my brain has stopped imploding, I'm trying to resend resumes for at least every job I applied for in the last 3 months. Yes, I've ruined my life over an unchecked typo. (and I'd edit my resume at least twice a week).

Fri. 12/14/12 5:04pm
steve:
oy, that sucks ngh. have you tried getting in touch with the owner of that email address?

Fri. 12/14/12 5:04pm
Honey Water:
@NGH: Arrrrrrgggghh. :/ But do you think a typo would have that much weight (except in proofreading / copy editing)?

Fri. 12/14/12 5:05pm
Ike:
NGH, I did something like that once. And it was for an editorial job. Excruciating, isn't it? Ugh.

Fri. 12/14/12 5:06pm
Honey Water:
[or if you highlighted "attention to detail" as one of your strengths]

Fri. 12/14/12 5:07pm
other david:
In the past I've noted that gmail can be somewhat accommodating with minor email address issues..

Fri. 12/14/12 5:09pm
Honey Water:
BTW, how did you discover it after a year had gone by? With advancing age I've developed a 7HD internal copy editor (yes, that's hour, not second) that surfaces to let me recall an error in something written or sent. It's really annoying since I think this internal editor is partying somewhere in Hawaii.

Fri. 12/14/12 5:15pm
northguineahills:
Well, since it was my email address, no one could actually email me. I only figured it out when a recruiter contacted me Wednesday and asked if my email was current. He spelled it out for me, and I looked at all of my resumes, and sure enough. i only edited the content of the resumes, not my header. It never occurred to me that my own email could be incorrect.

Fri. 12/14/12 5:17pm
Carmichael:
It's a good omen, ngh.

Fri. 12/14/12 5:19pm
Honey Water:
Right, understood (now). I'm so sorry... I sure know how it feels to wonder why you're getting no response when you've put yourself out there on the line. And, yes, what Carmichael just said.

Fri. 12/14/12 5:22pm
northguineahills:
fyi, the recruiter called me, but I've only had 3 people contact me via phone, and I know email is the preferred response method. Let's hope it's a good omen.

Fri. 12/14/12 5:33pm
Honey Water:
HONEstlY, the pitch is causing me some trouble. I need to get on dinner anyway, so so long good people! Have as great a weekend as is possible under sundry circumstances.